Truck trailers, and trucks with similar closed cargo areas, such as shown in FIG. 1, include a closing apparatus and closure for holding the doors of the closed cargo area closed. The closure generally has provision for placing a lock such as a padlock or pin lock thereon to lock the doors and discourage unauthorized entry into the cargo area. As shown in FIG. 1, the rear of a truck trailer 10 includes two cargo doors 11 and 12 hinged to the trailer 10 by hinges 13. A vertical shaft 14 is rotatably mounted on door 12 by brackets 15. Closing elements 16 are secured to opposite ends of shaft 14 and cooperate with closing brackets 17 secured to trailer 10. A handle 18 is pivotally mounted to shaft 14 by bracket 19. In operation, shaft 14 is rotated by pulling handle 18 outwardly toward the viewer in FIG. 1. This rotates closing elements 16 inwardly toward the trailer releasing the closing elements 16 from closing brackets 17 allowing door 12 to be swung open. Door edge 20 extends from door 12 to overlap the edge of door 11. With door 12 swung open enough to move edge 20 outwardly from door 11, door 11 can also be swung open. To close the doors, door 11 is swung closed and then door 12 is swung closed. When closing door 12, handle 18 is rotated outwardly and as the door closes against the trailer, handle 18 is rotated inwardly toward the trailer to rotate closing elements 16 outwardly so the ends of closing elements 16 move behind the ends of closing brackets 17 to secure the doors in closed position. Door 11 is secured in closed position by overlapping edge 20 of door 12.
In order to hold handle 18 in rotated closed position adjacent the doors as shown in FIG. 1, a closure 25 for handle 18 is provided secured to door 11. Closure 25 includes lower latching element 26 secured to door 11 and rotatable upper latching element 27 rotatably secured to door 11. As well known, latch element 27 can be rotated upwardly out of the way to allow handle 18 to be positioned in latch element 26 and then latch element 27 is rotated to the position shown to enclose handle 18. As shown in FIG. 2, upper latch element 27 would be rotated from the position shown to allow handle 18 to be moved up and out of lower latch element 26, or similarly up and into lower latch element 26. With handle 18 in lower latch element 26, upper latch element 27 is rotated clockwise to the closed position shown in FIG. 2. A stop 28 stops rotation in the closed position shown. Tabs 30 and 31 extending from latching elements 26 and 27, respectively, include openings 32 and 33, respectively, therethrough to receive the lock member of a lock. Various locks can be used such as a pad lock 35 as shown in FIG. 1. Variations of the above configuration are contemplated.
A known problem with the closure as described and as currently known and used is that brackets 26 and 27 are open to tampering and can be relatively easily broken or destroyed with common tools such as a crowbar or metal cutter. Regardless of the lock used, the weak points in the latch are the latching elements 26 and 27. Breaking and entering of trailers and cargo trucks is a serious problem and a large number of such trailers and cargo trucks have a closure as described.